HMS Centaur: A Charles Mullins novel, Sea Command 8

by Richard Testrake

  Doolittle knew exactly where the landing force was and knew of its victory over the enemy garrison on-shore. His problem was the French frigate that guarded the harbor. With her companion, a large transport, there were potentially many more enemy to fight in this small harbor than he had on his brig.

  He decided to remain in position to see what the frigate would do before attempting to intervene. When he saw the frigate unload men into the boats to send ashore, he debated attacking the frigate. There was the chance she had divested herself of so many hands that she would not be able to man all her guns.

  When he saw the enemy reinforcements defeated by Stalwart’s landing party, he decided to simply wait for Stalwart to return. He saw her coming around the headland at the same time as the enemy frigate captain did. This captain had a good excuse for running. He had sent most of his crew ashore and now they were dead or prisoners. He shouted an order to the transport captain that they must both cut their anchor cables and escape, if they could.

  The transport captain was a stubborn and frugal man who had spent his life on the sea. His ship was a civilian vessel chartered by the navy. If he abandoned his anchor on this sea floor, he knew his owner would try to make him pay for it. The frigate cut her cable and passed the brig without firing a shot. In the meantime, the master of the transport was trying every plan that he knew to free his ship from the tangle of debris on the bottom that had snared his anchor.

  Casually, Mister Doolittle brought his prize athwart the transport’s hawse and politely told her master it was time to surrender. Then, the hands he sent to man the transport cut the cable themselves and sailed over to meet Stalwart as she entered the harbor.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  HMS Stalwart led her prizes to the tiny harbor of Centaur Island, but there was not sufficient space to take the flock. A signal from the flag asked their condition. When the reply assured the admiral of their good condition, Mullins was ordered to take the prizes to Portsmouth. He learned another frigate had arrived, so with mooring space severely curtailed, Stalwart must operate from Portsmouth. She would still patrol in the area, but would receive stores and necessary maintenance there.

  After delivering his prizes to Portsmouth and turning them over to the prize court, Mullins allowed the ships’ officers time to visit their families in turn, remaining on the ship himself. Doris and Alfred posted down to spend time with him and he took them into his quarters to live while the ship was in port.

  Alfred remembered previous visits to ships his father had commanded, and had a glorious time exploring this one, under the guidance of some of the younger midshipmen. Some of the more foolhardy boys attempted to take Mullin’s son aloft, but there Captain Mullins drew the line.

  Soon though, it was time to go back to sea. The family and other visitors went ashore, and the ship’s crew resumed their role of fighting sailors again.

  Stalwart had received a draft of men to replace those killed or injured in the recent fighting. These new hands were mostly ne’er-do-wells, coming to the Navy, being unwelcome anywhere else. Normally, Mullins did not care for these types of people, finding them in large numbers difficult to control and train.

  Now though, with a large, well trained crew, a few unconventional hands could be absorbed easily enough.

  Deciding to give the new hands a little training on their way to their patrol area, he took Stalwart straight across the Channel to look into some smaller ports he had visited before. By this stage of the war, the enemy had fortified many of the smaller ports along their coast. Ship captains were discouraged from wasting ammunition on practice target shooting, but there were no objections to shooting at enemy military shore installations.

  Accordingly, whenever an enemy signal tower or gun battery was sighted, it would likely be given a broadside. In the past, he had been known to attack and sometimes take small gun batteries, but he was reluctant to do that this time, preferring hit-and-run tactics. This early in the cruise, he wished to conserve his people, avoiding expending them on unimportant shore raids.

  On one occasion though, a small coaster ran into a cove and beached herself to escape capture by this predator. Stalwart passed by the cove and went back out to sea, where she hove to, while her captain considered the options.

  Mullins decided to send his boats into shore, covered by Stalwarts’ guns. Her boats delivered a strong force to the shore that night as the coaster’s crew and the local villagers were trying to pull their vessel off the beach. A broadside from Stalwart scattered the workers and the landing party fired the coaster.

  When the coaster was fully in flames, Stalwart took her men back aboard and resumed her cruise up the coast.

  HMS Stalwart patrolled up the continental coast as far as the northern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, before turning south again. She accomplished little on this cruise, beyond keeping the enemy aware that a voracious predator was loose in their neighborhood. A pair of enemy corvettes came out to meet her off the North Sea coast of Jutland, but failed to press an attack. Had he been commanding those corvettes, Mullins was certain he could have prevailed against a single, elderly thirty-two-gun frigate.

  These enemy commanders appeared to be more cautious than himself though, and remained well clear of Stalwart. That evening, when Mullins saw the corvettes had separated, he decided to engage the closest. If he could not take her, perhaps he could disable the smaller ship. His attempt failed, but the pair never allowed him to approach gain. When the sun rose next morning, the sea was clear of the enemy.

  Deciding to remove to more profitable seas, Mullins decided to move Stalwart to another hunting area. Taking his frigate well out to sea, HMS Stalwart then turned south and east back toward the mainland. It was close enough to mid-day to begin thinking of taking noon sights, when a hesitant call came from the maintop.

  “Deck there, maybe a sail off the starboard bow.”

  Mullins and the deck officer both snatched up their glasses and trained them to starboard. Neither saw anything other than some birds. Master’s Mate Doolittle came on deck just then, so Mullins handed the lad his glass and told him to get aloft and try to make out what the lookout was reporting.

  While Doolittle was climbing the ratlines, the lookout reported again, “More sails to starboard, approaching. I think four ships, hull down.”

  Doolittle, upon reaching the maintop, conferred with the lookout, who pointed out the approaching vessels. “Deck there, ten ships in sight, one may be a liner.”

  The master’s mate remained in the top, observing the approaching fleet through his glass. Eventually, he identified, besides the third-rate liner, a pair of frigates, a corvette and a half dozen transports. This force was too much for his frigate to harry so he made the decision to return to Centaur Island to make his report.

  This time when they entered the little harbor, it was almost empty, with only the old Zeus still threatening any interloper who tried to enter without her permission. The frigate’s topmen stripped off the frigate’s canvas as she came to anchor. The first officer hoisted the signal for ‘Have dispatches’ and Mullins was down the side in a flash into his gig.

  He was greeted at the flag’s side by her flag captain who wondered about the dispatches. After being told of the enemy convoy sighted two days before, the flag captain ushered Mullins into the great cabin.

  Mullins reported the sighting of the enemy fleet to Rear Admiral Brewer, and the pair discussed the possible ramifications. After marking the position on a chart, Admiral Brewer decided the fleet was probably coming from a port farther south and was probably bound for a nearby port on the mainland. Rear Admiral Brewer theorized they were bringing up troops from the south with the possible intention of reinforcing themselves with ships and troops from this local area. He speculated if his theories were correct, an attack might be imminent.

  Admiral Brewer fell silent for a few moments and Mullins rose, thinking the interview was finished. Then Brewer spoke.

  “Captain
, I must ask you to remain in the vicinity of this island until further notice. I have sent some of my ships home for replenishment, leaving the island’s defenses diminished. Hopefully, at least some of my ships will return before the enemy comes, but our shore batteries are fully manned and perhaps Stalwart may give the enemy pause.”

  “I am concerned about another matter. During the recent attempt by the enemy to take the island, several hundred ground troops were landed. Their transports were taken or sunk, and it was not thought these troops posed an important threat.”

  “Our own ground forces soon eliminated most of them, but some managed to over-run a small battery on the other side of the island and replenished their ammunition from the battery’s stores.”

  “They have been conducting hit-and-run raids since. It will be desirable to prevent them from linking with another enemy landing force. Should you sight or have other intelligence of these people, you are directed to communicate such intelligence to my flag. If you are able to interfere with this group’s activities on shore, that too would be of great assistance.”

  With rations scarce ashore, Mullins did not ask for replenishment, he had enough beef and pork on board to feed his crew for a short time. After that, he would make other arrangements. Now, it was time to take his leave.

  The frigate began her leisurely circuit about the island, paying close attention to the shore. When they came to the battery that had been attacked by the stranded enemy party, Mister Harris took the gunner and a file of Marines ashore to access the damage. Upon their return, Harris reported.

  “The guns are four French eight pounders, all with their vents spiked and their carriages smashed and burned. The magazine was torn down, but the powder seems to have been carried off rather than exploded. Some of the shot we found in the sea.”

  “We found the batteries’ gunners where they had been buried nearby. No sign of their weapons.”

  Mullins answered, “The admiral told me about the attack. He believes many of the enemy were killed ashore by our people who tracked them down later, but some small number escaped. We are directed to attempt to locate this enemy.”

  It had been days since the original assault on this battery and Mullins believed the enemy had distanced itself from the scene. They would continue their surveillance of the island.

  After completing one circuit about Centaur Island, they began another. Mullins theorized the island was small, with few resources available to desperate survivors. There were few sources of fresh water, and these had previously been noted, so special attention was made of these.

  At the foot of a rocky outcrop on the shore, a tiny stream ran into the sea. The first time they had rounded the island, there had been no sign of human life here, but this time a man was seen fishing from one of the rocks. The man immediately scurried to safety, but Marines were put into the launch and went ashore to search for the fellow. Mullins personally thought this would be wasted effort, but hour later, the landing party returned safely with a pair of trussed prisoners.

  Both had been taken near a small pond, where one man was resting, troubled by a festering leg wound. He had reportedly sustained this wound in the original attack on the battery, and could no longer travel. His people had left him at this water source with another man to keep him company.

  These men proved to be low-ranking soldats of the French Army who had little idea of what they were doing here and bitter about the actions of the officer who was leading them. The injured soldier immediately gave away the location of the party that had abandoned them. He said there were now fewer than a dozen men remaining, the others having perished on their march. All had muskets and ammunition, but with no food left, he did not see how they could remain on their feet much longer.

  The injured captive was turned over to the surgeon while the other was given food and drink and secured on the messdeck.

  Mullins decided he had allowed his officers to go ashore on enough adventures. He would lead the search for this enemy party himself.

  Together with a strong party of armed seamen, he also took his Marines with him and they set out in search of their quarry. The sailing master, good with a pen, had drawn him a map of the area showing the suspected location of the fugitives’ camp.

  It was difficult terrain to cross, much of it being mud flats and dunes, often covered with tough growth. The site of the enemy encampment was located on the highest hillock in the area, but it was almost empty. A single survivor lay beside a cold fire, with an empty water bottle close by.

  Still alive, but just barely, this one, refreshed with water and a little boiled beef, said the last members of the party had left yesterday to raid food stores at the harbor. Mullins knew very well the small amount of such stores available, were mostly aboard ship, inaccessible to raiders.

  The raiders were detected by sound, rather than sight. They had attacked a small outpost before the main defenses, and had fired a volley before rushing into their attack. The volley, fired from long range, failed to injure anyone, but served to alert the main defense force, which counter-attacked immediately.

  Forced to withdraw, the French force fell back, only to encounter Mullin’s party. A brief skirmish resulted in the capture of the party, save for the enemy officer who fell with a bayonet thrust to his chest.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Back aboard his ship, Mullins was forced to give some thought to obtaining more provisions. He had seen back at the harbor how bare the larder was. He had been assured that a supply convoy was due at any time, but no one could say when that time might be. He knew his orders called for him to remain close to the island, but thought he might be able to patrol farther afield without undue notice being taken.

  To the north, he knew of an island with a large fishing community. During his time as island commander, he had avoided this island, leaving them to their own devices. Since he had returned, he had heard of no actions taken against its inhabitants.

  Ordering course set for that island’s harbor, they were off it by sunset of the next day. Since this was shoal water, mosstly shallow-drafted fishing boats frequented it, and the enemy had not bothered to fortify it. A narrow channel had been dredged and a single transport lay at anchor,

  Lying off the harbor entrance, Stalwart hoisted a white flag and loaded the launch filled with armed seamen. Mullins turned the ship over to his first officer and climbed down into the launch with one of the fore-topmen, a seaman from one of the German states who thought he could understand the language spoken on these islands. He also carried a well-filled purse of his own funds.

  There had been a crowd gathering when the ship first appeared, but now that a boat filled with armed men approached the town’s pier, the people began to scatter. As they pulled up to the pier, a single man took their painter and made a turn around a bollard. There was nothing distinguishing about the person, but he had a look of authority.

  Turning to his interpreter, Mullins told him to begin his speech. Previously prepared, Hans Shaeffer began speaking to the individual.

  Addressing him in his own idea of the language spoken in these parts, the seaman gave his talk.

  The islander nodded gravely, then spoke in a different tongue. He explained in that language that he could not quite understand what was being said and wondered if the German language would be more understandable?

  There was immediate understanding and Mullins’ interpreter had a long conversation with the official. When they finished discussing the state of the war, they got to the reason for the visit.

  Mullins had his interpreter explain his ship would like to purchase several tons of salt fish, properly packed. He would pay for that with British hard money. Was any fish available and what price might be asked.

  The villager said he was the elder of this village and was the spokesperson for the fishing community. He was sorry but local military officials forbade any commerce with the Royal Navy and thus could not comply with this request. Besides, all its produ
ction was to be shipped to France to help feed the people there.

  After discussing this statement with his interpreter, Mullins said, “You should know that at this moment, I will pay you for the fish at your standard rates. However, once it had been loaded onto a French-flagged ship and sent to sea, I will intercept it, and it will be taken without payment.”

  The elder thought over this idea. He then thought if the sale could be made without alerting the authorities on the mainland about this transaction, he could sell the required amount of fish to Mullins.

  As it developed, a transport owned by the villagers themselves, was now in the harbor loading fish for delivery to Antwerp. The village elder propped selling the ship and its cargo to Mullins, who would take possession and sail the ships to where he desired it to go. He added that it was difficult keeping the channel clear, and many of the islanders thought it would be simpler to just ferry their catch to market in their own shallow-drafted boats.

  Mullins had to think about this transaction. The transport, could carry many times the amount he could in the limited space in his frigate. But, he had not nearly enough funds available in hard cash to pay for both ship and cargo. Explaining this to the elder, he answered he would accept a note of hand, in addition to the purse of hard coin that Mullins carried.

  Mullins carried a large balance in his bank in London, enough to cover the cost of ship and cargo. He thought he could sell the cargo to Admiral Brewer back on the island, perhaps recovering his investment. He thought it surprising that an enemy merchant would accept a British note-of-hand in this cavalier manner, but decided he had nothing to lose.